1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a hearing prosthesis, and more particularly, to configuring a hearing prosthesis with a reduced quantity of parameters.
2. Related Art
Complex systems often have a large number of input variables or parameters (“parameters” herein) that specify the system's operation. Configuration of these parameters can be time consuming, particularly when each parameter has a wide range of possible values (“parameter values” herein). Additionally, state changes in such systems are often not simply related to a single parameter value change, but, instead often result in the values of multiple parameters being changed. The effect of one parameter value change often depends on the value of another parameter. Alternatively, the effect of changing one or more parameter values may not significantly impact the system's behavior.
In complex system's involved in the treatment or prevention of a medical condition or disability, configuration of the system may be further complicated by the availability and ability of a human subject to evaluate the system's performance. One such system is a cochlear implant, which converts external stimuli in the form of acoustic sound into a sequence of electrical stimuli that are applied to electrodes implanted within a recipient's cochlea. Cochlear implants typically have a large number of parameters that are involved in converting the acoustic sound into electrical stimuli. The specific values for these parameters may have a significant impact on the sound perceived by the recipient; and, the impact of changes in different parameter values may have different effects for different recipients. The process of configuring (i.e., determining the values of the parameters for a recipient) a cochlear implant is commonly referred to as a “fitting” and the parameters are commonly collectively referred to as the MAP.